Hey Leroy, nice to meet you. I'm Ed. I just want to clarify that my not posting build threads is not because I feel any certain way. It's because I have no inclination to do so. Many people love to put themselves out front. I don't, and in fact, I am a bit uncomfortable as I write this. I am just too self-conscious, always have been. I am not a selfish person and in fact have introduced several others to this hobby and trained them to fly. Sharing this hobby with others does keep it going, but I don't agree that it is "meant to be shared with others". It is what it is...an activity that we enjoy. It's not meant to be anything in particular and those involved iwth this activity are not meant to behave in any certain way.

What did you do prior to the advent of these internet forums such as the one we are on? You probably socialized at your local club and exchanged ideas there. I've mostly been a 'lone wolf' builder and flyer because that suits my personality. This discussion board is a wonderful way for people to communicate and exchange information so much quicker than we have ever been to do as a society at any time before. I appreciate it and love it for that, but don't expect me to post a build thread. It's just not in me.

Hi to you Ed and I need to clarify something too. First of all I am not looking to be in any spotlight by posting a build, doing so is to show others what and or how I build as a way to interact with what others are doing or learning something from me or others to aid them in there builds. It's sharing information, experience, skills and some find it very useful in there growth in the hobby, hence the term, sharing, with others

Prior to the internet we had hobby shop clubs where we got together and built planes and went and flew them together, the shop owner was our mentor, teaching us how to build "and" fly. The internet has opened up a whole new audience to a declining hobby doing the same thing, teaching and a picture is worth a 1000 words. I thank those that do there builds here, I have learned alot from them and still do as there is always something new to learn.

Posting is optional and with 63 posts in 5 yr's it's obvious your not much of a talker but thats ok, I'm still glad your here. Leroy

I think there are plenty of creative builders out there, a lot of them working with foams and fiberglass now instead of balsa....In fact I see more creative scratchbuilding now than I remember in a long time. I think as people find it easy to work with the foams, they are able to scratch build their own instead of buying a kit.

Kits are great, especially when complex shapes are involved and pre-work makes things easier. However there are usually some cheesy things in kits that I find annoying and I re-do those anyway, now I just scratch build and do it the way I want to from the start.

I think arf and rtf planes have opened the hobby up to a lot more people that would not have the time or patience to partake in otherwise, and that is a good thing. It has pushed technology, things become cheaper and technology gets better as economies of scale increase. I think also that the rtf's have removed some of the emotional investment that people have in their planes. This is good in that people push their flying a bit more and their skills develop faster than just flying in circles because you don't want to kill your plane. It can also lead to people doing stupid things as well but that's part of society.

I think there are plenty of creative builders out there, a lot of them working with foams and fiberglass now instead of balsa....In fact I see more creative scratchbuilding now than I remember in a long time. I think as people find it easy to work with the foams, they are able to scratch build their own instead of buying a kit.

Kits are great, especially when complex shapes are involved and pre-work makes things easier. However there are usually some cheesy things in kits that I find annoying and I re-do those anyway, now I just scratch build and do it the way I want to from the start.

I think arf and rtf planes have opened the hobby up to a lot more people that would not have the time or patience to partake in otherwise, and that is a good thing. It has pushed technology, things become cheaper and technology gets better as economies of scale increase. I think also that the rtf's have removed some of the emotional investment that people have in their planes. This is good in that people push their flying a bit more and their skills develop faster than just flying in circles because you don't want to kill your plane. It can also lead to people doing stupid things as well but that's part of society.

I fly some arfs that i have won in raffles or drawings but i fly them in high winds or rain and even bad storms ,i figure i cant hurt them anymore after the way the chineese built them and in bad weather it saves my nice scratch built planes . joe.

Who of you designs and (scratch) builds their own radios?
Taurus Flyer

I have just enough time to build planes after work for a hour or so and no time or interest building a radio . If i did try building my own radio maybe i could try it out in one of your planes first . lmao joe

............ I think also that the rtf's have removed some of the emotional investment that people have in their planes. This is good in that people push their flying a bit more and their skills develop faster than just flying in circles because you don't want to kill your plane. It can also lead to people doing stupid things as well but that's part of society.

I got into the hobby by buying a used plane and radio. I'll have to admit that since I paid less than a hundred bucks for my ready to go Goldburg Tiger 2, I was not overly concerned with crashing it. But now that I've rendered it into chopsticks, I'm building another one. WOW! I've spent some money on this kit and I'm reusing the engine, electronics, wheels and such. I am afraid that when I fly it I won't exceed 30 degrees of bank. At the same time, I am look forward to an emotional connection (as you say) with the plane that I haven't experienced before.

I've built and flown RC from when I was 14 to 41 years old, took 5-6 years off to do just indoor FF, and now I'm in the middle of a Herr L-19 Bird Dog converted to 3 channel electric RC.

The assault of ARF's were one of the things that prompted me to stop RC flying. Before that the flying fields were populated with real modelers, now all it takes is a credit card and 15 minutes of your time to be an RC'er.

The only foam I've ever built with is a sailplane that had foam cores I sheeted with balsa, but I certainly won't turn my nose up to laser cutters, LiPolys, brushless motors and spread spectrum technology.

You make it sound like these ARFs fly themselves. Anyone can definitely pick up an ARF but anyone would have no freaking clue how to get one in the air. I think you are forgetting some aspects of this hobby because its so ingrained that you can't remember what it was like to not have all the knowledge and familiarity. Certainly its not "as much" of a hobby to put together an ARF and fly it, not to mention an RTF that practically can fly itself, but its still the hobby!

You make it sound like these ARFs fly themselves. Anyone can definitely pick up an ARF but anyone would have no freaking clue how to get one in the air. I think you are forgetting some aspects of this hobby because its so ingrained that you can't remember what it was like to not have all the knowledge and familiarity. Certainly its not "as much" of a hobby to put together an ARF and fly it, not to mention an RTF that practically can fly itself, but its still the hobby!

To be honest, I think we are seeing newer ones dabbling in exciting ways with foam etc is probably BECAUSE they have not been indoctrinated against it by the older one's entrenched bias. Can't argue with dominate mindsets such as "can't and "shouldn't or "must".